Simulation of the soil-water characteristic curve using laboratory tests and empirical models for Cubans unsaturated soils

Abstract

The task of characterizing an unsaturated soil is a very hard one, unlike the classics hypothesis like 100% of saturation are not considerable now. This work focuses on obtaining and simulating the soil-water characteristic curve for unsaturated soils from: Sagua la Grande, Formation Capdevila, Cienfuegos and Mariel, located in four provinces of Cuba. The estimation of the characteristic soil has different purposes that can be used to obtain various parameters which are important in the description of unsaturated soils. The permeability, shear strength and volumetric behavior are soil properties that are affected by the suction variation. For each soil case study, the characteristic curve is obtained using the filter paper test laboratory. The simulation is performed through Van Genuchten, Fredlund & Xing, and Gallipoli methods, that are empirical models and the curve is hyperbolic shaped. The statistical analysis helped to determine which of the models fit the properties of soils described by the experimental values.